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Coffee
History Part One
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Gahwa is an age old custom.
The discovery of coffee as a delicious beverage
occurred before the 13th Century. The name
coffee
is derived from the Arabic term kahway
or Gahwa,
which later gave rise to the English word
coffee.
The preparation, serving
and drinking of gahwa (Arabian
coffee) are individual rituals derived
from Bedouin hospitality. These traditions
are still practiced today with the same
ceremonies and etiquette which have prevailed
for centuries. Click HERE
to learn The Bedouin Tradition of serving
Gahwa. |
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According
to legend,
Arabian
coffee-drinking began almost 12 centuries
ago (850 A.D.) when an Abyssinian goat
herder
named Khalid noticed that while the afternoon
sun
made him drowsy, his flock frolicked and
skipped
about after nibbling at some berries.
Khalid either
ate the berries whole, or ground and boiled
the them.
When
his wife saw how energetic the normally
exhausted Khalid was, she urged him to
share this
miraculous discovery with the local holy
man at the
monastery. The chief monk did not share
Khalid's
enthusiasm. Declaring the berries
"the work of the
Devil," he
flung them into a fire to banish their
offending presence. Soon the room filled
with the
delicious aroma of roasting berries, and
other monks
hurried in to discover the source of this
new delight.
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The
chief monk retrieved the smoldering berries,
deposited them in water and instructed
the
other monks to sip the elixir. As they
drank it down heartily, they experienced
the clarity and
vigor Khalid had described. The brew was
proclaimed a miracle and was then used
to keep
them awake during their evening prayers!
Click HERE for
The Legend of Omar the Dervish.
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Because
of stories like this, coffee was first
thought to have originated in Yemen on
the Arabian peninsula when it was seen
growing there by Europeans at a much later
date. But the botanical evidence indicates
that the coffee plant "Coffea
Arabica" originated on the plateaus
of central Ethiopia where it still grows
wild. Somehow the Arab traders got the
beans from Ethiopia across the Red Sea
to Yemen around the 6th Century A.D.
| African
cultures were also using the bean
prior to this... |
as
a solid food. The ripe berries were crushed
by mortars, combined with animal
fats and shaped into round balls, which
could be carried and eaten on long journeys.
African warriors also ate the "coffee
balls" before going into battle.
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